


clear the streets and kill the lights

by kimaracretak



Category: Babylon 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Comes Back Wrong, Control!Talia - Freeform, F/F, forced to work together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 14:49:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21255110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kimaracretak/pseuds/kimaracretak
Summary: Talia is only sometimes Talia, now. Susan wants to change that.





	clear the streets and kill the lights

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nelja](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nelja/gifts).

Susan stared across the dimly-lit and suddenly far too small interior of the only Red Sector cafe that had had decent coffee lately. In the far corner, a familiar fall of platinum blonde hair glimmered in what light remained, swaying slightly as the woman tilted her head towards her companion.

What was she doing out in public, unsupervised?

Susan turned on her heel and strode back into the chaos of the main thoroughfare. She still had some coffee of her own: she'd been rationing it, but it was more than worth avoiding Talia - or the thing wearing her face - given how on edge the strange nightmares that had been plaguing the station for the past week had her.

The uncertainty was shaping up to be the worst part, after the weeks of disbelief and tests and _is it - can it - are you ..._ that had finally culminated in doctors, telepaths, and Vorlons all agreeing that, yes, that was Sometimes Talia. The uncertainty of those first days all came flooding back while she walked, and Susan's hands curled into loose fists at her side as she resisted the urge to look behind her.

Sometimes when she saw the woman it would be Talia, wide open eyes and a shy half smile, one that made Susan want to believe they could repair everything that had passed between them. More often it was Control, distinguished only by the cant of her head or the tightness around her eyes, a closed-off box that locked away everything that remained of Talia until all reminder of her existence was compressed down into a faint staticky hum that hovered at the edge of Susan's telepathic awareness.

She was trapped on the station with a woman who had only half-died and now only half-lived, a ghost that moved and breathed and was hardly acknowledged as a ghost even by those who had known her before, and that was almost worse than any nightmare. A ghost, she thought she could have lived with. This shell, this -

And like a ghost, Control appeared in front of her, so suddenly that Susan nearly walked into her. It was Control, she knew even before the woman's ungloved hand landed on her own.

Susan tried not to flinch. Once, feeling Talia's bare skin had been a joy, a sign that there was affection and trust and something … else between them that they both wanted to give space to grow. Now Talia never took their gloves off and Control never put them on, and the touch of skin on skin was something she was learning to dread.

This time, though, there was an unexpected sobriety to Control's face, and she skipped her usual taunts to begin with, "There's something in Down Below that I need you to handle with me."

Speechless, Susan stared back at her. Every instinct she had screamed at her to refuse outright, but a smaller, insistent part was remembering the morning's security report that had driven her to seek out coffee in the first place.

"Your nightmares," Control said, and was Susan imagining the slight emphasis on _your_? "There's something in Down Below that came off one of the cargo transports from the Rim last weekend. Something that should never have been set free. That dockhand was _very_ informative."

It wasn't out of the question there was a _ something _ that she needed to deal with - but with Control, even with the possibility that it might turn into being with Talia?

"Please," Control said and Susan felt her irritation flicker at the corner of her mind, a sharp reminder that she was very clearly not in Susan's head, and very clearly could be if she wanted to. "Talia misses you ever so much. She needs you for this."

"You're not one to ask for help," Susan said. "What if I just feed you to whatever's down there?"

Control shrugged. "You wouldn't do that to Talia." Susan waited for the inevitable insult, but it didn't come. Control blinked, and for a moment Susan was standing in front of Talia again.

She could have Talia again. If whatever was causing the nightmares had some kind of telepathic power, maybe - maybe.

And then Control smiled again, a wall coming down in her eyes, and Susan knew she had to try. Talia was appearing for shorter and shorter periods of time, looking more and more frightened each time.

"I'm not doing this for you," she said, even though she was sure Control already knew. She still wasn't sure how much Talia could hear or see, when Control spoke, but it felt important to talk to her anyway. Even more important than it was to talk to her in dreams.

"It doesn't matter," Control said.

But Susan could hear the very un-Talia-like waver in her voice, and knew she had won something.


End file.
